Lifeskills: Passed

This week marked yet another milestone … or is it an achievement? … for me. Well, a few, actually.

I had my second Annual Performance Review at work, which was equally uncomfortable and pleasing. For the same reason. That the feedback I received from others aligns with how I think I’m doing, and being perceived, was a bonus; words such as ‘passionate about her work’ and ‘cares for her team mates’ were bandied about.

Currently moving towards the end of a rather large, rather chaotic project, it wasn’t until I had to sit and think about what I’d actually done all year, as though my workspace wasn’t an indication of the size and chaos of everything, that I realised what I had actually done.

A mere twelve months ago, I was in the throes of becoming an (somewhat unwilling) SME (that’s subject matter expert to those who haven’t been subject to corporate acronyms for a while) in the ‘digital space’. My role was that of Online Content Specialist, which changed to Digital Producer when I was moved under another manager.

Basically, I writed stuff for the intranets for the peoples.

I also happen to know how to make intranet sites actually work for the people, and know a thing or two about making intranet sites look pretty and do all the things that intranet sites should do, for the actual user of the site.

I also learnt a few things along the way, mostly by having to work stuff out myself, because, let’s face it at the end of the day I’m still effectively a three-year-old and I do it mineself!

I have no certificate, diploma, nor degree in such things. Just a passion, empathy, and the stubbornness of a three-year-old.

Which is how, I think, I found myself doing the things I was asked to do by the team around me as they worked on their projects, to managing all the elements of a chunk of a larger project. All. The. Bits.

A revelation that both pleased and confronted me greatly. I think I prefer being thrown in the deep end and swimming for my life, as happened in this case, due to a variety of circumstances, than having some sort of lead in into it.

I can’t believe I did what I did! And more.

The week culminated in my participating in my very first Taekwondo grading; an activity I took up around ten weeks ago basically because it looked like a lot of fun. Why else, in life, would you do things by choice?

Lifeskills is the tagline and philosophy of the club where I train, and lifeskillz is what I clearly have a grasp of. I mean, it was halfway through the term that Chippie started in, and after I painstakingly (literally and figuratively) stitched the required badges to his unform that I discovered they were were iron on.

Since then:

I ironed my own badges on; they fell off within the first seven minutes of my own first less

I bruised to tops of both my feet

I managed to pull my own pants down during a bout of sparring

Three times

I kicked a ball into my own face

I dropped another person on my own foot, spraining my big toe and sporting a delightfully coloured bruise

I think my most memorable moment was in one of my first few classes, where I successfully traumatised a sixteen-year-old boy. Not my own, so it had added specialness. Not only did he – a red belt – find himself partnered with the new old lady with the white belt, we were doing some rather close work.

By which I mean, one of us had to pretty much lie on the other and hold them down so they couldn’t escape.

The deer-in-headlights look he presented with was priceless, and more than enough to set me into fits of hysterical giggling.

I’m sure he had about 27 different thoughts running through his head … or quite possibly just the one … “BOOBS!”

Who knows.

I did the right thing, and brought the hilarious/traumatic, depending on which side you were standing, situation to the instructor’s attention. I’m not sure the boy himself was able to, as he still appeared frozen to the spot.

We were reassigned partners, and we both ultimately, successfully passed our gradings.